mmm! | Let’s make Rellenos de Papa

August 29th, 2011 by Mangia Memoirs

I might not be a Latina, but my SOUL is. Rellenos de Papa are AMAZING!

When we visited Puerto Rico, our friend’s Irmaliz and Ignacio gave us the local tour. They introduced us to this roadside restaurant called “Donde Olga”. We relaxed and drank local beer called Medalla and had some Puerto Rican noshes. While dining outside, we enjoyed the cool breezes and scents of smoked meat and fried treats. We had tons of things we’d never heard of before… alcapurrias, chicken and beef pinchos, bacalaitos(salted cod fritters) and our favorite Rellenos de Papa (basically a stuffed and fried mashed potato, usually has beef).

Since, then I’ve heard the constant yearning from both of the gentlemen in the house for rellenos de papa. So, on one random weeknight as a little surprise, I finally tried to make these things. And let me tell ya, it really was a pain in the A$$. There are a lot of steps involved, but it was an adventure and I”m glad we tried.

The Details: mashed potatoes stuffed with seasoned beef, rolled in to balls and fried. We served over a nice light salad. These little guys are a standalone meal.

The Verdict:

2-3 stars

Given that is was our first time making these, I think we were did alright. Were they as good as the ones we got in Puerto Rico? Not even close.

Would You Eat It Again? Yea, but would prefer eating them in Puerto Rico or a restaurant that has them down pat.

What Would You Change? Ours were not as crispy as they needed to be and were a little dense, so we’d need to figure out how to get that nice crunch. Probably use corn starch and a little more oil so they were submerged more and we didn’t have to roll them as much.

Our “Mangia Memoir” (what we’ll remember)

The smells that were taking over the house kinda took us back to that weekend we had in Puerto Rico. And gathering around the kitchen, rolling, stuffing and frying these bad boys was really a group effort. I think it made us appreciate these meat filled treasures a little more.